Great Britain 'on course for best ever Winter Olympics performance' in Vancouver 2010

A leading Olympic statistician who correctly predicted that Britain would
finish fourth in the Beijing medals table last summer believes the country
is on course for its best ever Winter Games performance in Vancouver next
year.

Luciano Barra, a former head of the Italian Olympic Committee who compiles spreadsheets on World Championship results to predict Olympic medal tallies, is projecting a Team GB haul of two golds and two silvers.

That would surpass Britain’s previous best performance - a gold, a silver and a bronze at the 1936 Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. At the last Winter Olympics in Turin in 2006, Shelley Rudman’s skeleton silver medal was the only success for Team GB.

Britain’s hopes for Vancouver were boosted on Sunday when David Murdoch skipped Scotland to victory over hosts Canada at the World Curling Championships.

It means that, for the first time, Team GB will go into the Winter Olympics with two reigning world champions following the success of Nicola Minichiello and Gillian Cooke at the World Bobsleigh Championships in February.

Barra, who was deputy chief executive of the Turin Games, predicted that Britain would win 18 golds in Beijing, just one short of the actual total, but was spot on in forecasting eight cycling golds.

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The British Olympic Association has refused to set medal targets for Vancouver but is hoping for a big improvement on recent Games.

BOA chief executive Andy Hunt said: “British winter sport has had a great 2008/9 season with many podium finishes and we’re very optimistic that Team GB will produce outstanding performances in Vancouver.”